In case you're looking for something special, embroidery-wise:

My colleague Dr. Alex Makin has put together kits for Bayeux-style stitching!

Now... Alex is a textile archaeologist specialising in early medieval embroidery and a professionally trained embroiderer. Add those together, and the result is that her kits are not just any random bits of fabric and thread... obviously.

The Bayeux kit contains hand-woven fabric to the specifications of the original ground weave of the tapestry. The embroidery threads are wool, and of course they are hand-dyed in natural colours, similar to the colours used in the original. You also get a handmade bronze needle for the stitching, and a booklet with instructions so you can stitch your peacock... because that is the motif for this kit.


Which means that if you'd like to get a taste on how the original Bayeux tapestry was done, and how it felt to stitch it, this is the kit to get. You can learn more about the kits, and pre-order them, here on Alex' site.

 

So. Let's assume that you happen to have a corded skirt replica... which is not quite finished yet, but all the cords are done, and it has been wet-set, and has dried completely again, and now it only needs the rings at the bottom.

What do you do?



Obviously. Right?

(Yes, I am wearing something underneath the skirt. Yes, it is surprisingly non-see-through as long as one is not moving. With the unfinished cords, it will swing outwards a lot when you twirl, but that will be much different once the bottom ends are held together.)

 

Random facts:

• I have finished spinning warp yarn for the large fabric, and am now doing the weft yarn. I overshot a bit on the warp yarn amount, but that's always better than cutting it too fine.
• The cat is not amused when she tries to sleep on my arm on my desk and said arm moves too much. It has to move in order for me to work, though.
• Our new printer does not print things 1:1, but loses about 2 mm in size on 10 cm. So if I have to print something to original scale, I have to enlarge it by 1.03 or something. I'd check, but the paper where I noted this is either underneath the cat, or in the other room, so in both cases currently inaccessible.
• There's a really amazing optical illusion presented in this video, even if it hides behind way too many ads when I try to view it.
• Xmas baking madness has started around here. We're late this year doing it. We also need to buy more flour, which might be done through a lengthy bike ride, but it's currently snowing outside and we have not decided yet if we want to brave the weather or not. (If not, we'll have to do something else, like a shorter bike ride or a walk - The Rule is to go out at least once per day, no matter what.)
• TAG conference is coming up! I'm giving a short presentation there on Friday morning. Registration is still open, and the conference is free.
• It's Blogiversary day today. Another year has whooshed past... and this will be post number 2759. Hard to believe, but the years sort of add up...

The cording marathon is done - and the skirt has taken a nice warm bath, and currently it's hanging out in the basement, where it is nice and warm and the drying racks are.



It does look quite nice, and sort of fun, hung onto that modern drying rack and held up with modern clothespegs. Now it gets to dry in peace, and then it will have to wait for a bit until I've finished the spinning marathon before I'll settle down to the ringmaking marathon.

Speaking of the spinning marathon - the warp yarn has also been done, and now I can progress to the weft yarn. Hooray!

 

Here's a fun fact on the Egtved corded skirt: These cords are thin. Really thin. And they are not fluffy at all, being twisted really hard.

The diameter of the individual, finished cords, consisting of four threads, is about 4 mm, often a little less - so a spun yarn thickness of a tad less than a mm was what I was going for. I did spin "normal twist" for my personal feeling, which is a rather firm yarn, but most of the final appearance is decided by the cording and the twist added then and there. (I tested that with the corded tassels on the belt, as there was a slight twist difference between the cut off warp yarns and the extra yarns inserted for the tassel.)

Here's a photo of the skirt in progress, with yarns and cords:



On the left, there's the sort-of-plied-up loops drawn through the band part while weaving. I used "fresh" yarn, so each loop plied up naturally quite a bit, resulting in a loose two-ply with a closed lower end. To the right of these, lying underneath the little scale gadget, you can see finished cords - and because the two-plied loops are a loose ply, and the finished four-element-cords are twisted very hard, they look only a little thicker than the two-ply loops.

To the right of those, there's the printout of the skirt in original size, for comparison. Like in the original, my cords vary slightly in thickness and twist density, but they are quite similar-looking overall. I do hope that this will not be affected a lot when giving the whole thing the finishing wet treatment. Though with the hard twist, I suspect there won't be a lot, if any, blooming/thickening of the cords. I do expect a bit of shrinkage of the whole band, bringing the cords a little closer together, perhaps. Things that keep those projects exciting!

 
 

Another week has flown past - but yes, there is some progress. Apart from some more spinning, the weaving bit of the corded skirt is finally finished, after a bit of a hiatus. But there's just so much spinning that I can comfortably do in a day...



So the corded part is woven. I had to spin a bit more after all, as there'll be some takeup when I'll be wet-finishing, and I only did the maths after spinning... of course. Duh. The corded bit is followed by a bit of plain band, which is also done, and the final finish is a braided bit. The latter might get slimmer in the original, so I'm planning to possibly un-braid again and finish it properly when I'm nearer the completion of the whole piece. For now, there is more cording to do; after that, I'm planning to give the whole thing its nice warm bath, then finish off the cords with the rings.

The bit you see in the picture, by the way, is all the two-ply loops drawn through that are waiting to be corded. Lots and lots of twisting coming up!

If you're interested in medieval embroidery, especially concerning goldwork, go check out the really interesting post by Jessica Grimm on Alex Makin's blog "Early Medieval (mostly) Textiles".

Also, Amica and Maria of historicaltextiles.org are doing their advent calendar again - starting with a weaving tablet made from wood, which absolutely delighted me.